Me: And she told you?
Atlee: That’s right.
Bullshit. There was no way.
Me: And she didn’t ask if you’d seen her phone?
Atlee: No, but she did ask me to throw it in the swamp if I found it.
I pulled out her phone and typed in the code. Sure enough the screen unlocked, and just like that I hated Novalee a little more.
There wasn’t much to find. Novalee didn’t even have a screensaver, or wallpaper. Everything was original factory settings, except for the ringtones, which was set to a song. There were no pictures, no social media accounts and a total of six contacts.
In other words, her phone was useless. The only thing I did have to search were the mile long messages between her and Memphis, which I wasn’t even going to attempt to touch. Not yet anyway.
I’d much rather check our books than scroll through the chaos of Novalee’s texts.
Pocketing the phone, I headed over to the closet and reached up to move the loose ceiling tile. I was interrupted before I could pull the books out.
“There you are.”
Fuck.
I stopped what I was doing and looked over my shoulder.
Carissa was standing just inside the door. As if my day couldn’t get any worse. “What are you doing here, Carissa?”
High school sports weren’t exactly her thing. Or sports in general.
“I brought Ezra to the game.”
No, Darry brought Ezra to the game. She came looking for me.
“Since when do you care about quality time with the family?”
“Ezra really wanted to come.” When her heels clicked on the floor. I busied myself with a stack of papers on the shelf. “You know how kids can be.”
Yes I did. I probably knew better than she did. In fact I was pretty sure I’d spent more time with her youngest son than his mother did.
“Well, you wouldn’t want to disappoint Ezra,” I slid my gaze her way. “You should get back.”
Carissa waved her hand dismissively, “Darry’s with him.”
My point exactly. The only person Carissa came here for was me.
“I thought I’d come and see how you were.”
I just bet she did.
“It’s been so long since we talked. I miss you.”
“No,” I snorted. “You miss my dick.”
The corner of her mouth curled in a small smirk. “That too.”
I rolled my eyes down her full length fur coat. It was way too hot for something like that, and a part of me wanted to ask what she was wearing underneath. But I didn’t. I promised myself I’d stay away from her.
So I crossed my arms and sighed, “I’m not in the mood for your games.”
